Scripture Book

A friend told me about this Scripture book idea she saw online.  So, I told another friend about it....and by the end of the day she had sent me this list of ABC Scriptures.

I just listened to an awesome lesson by Glenn Colley called "How to Keep Your Children Unspotted From the World" Go to this link and scroll down it's number 106-it's from a gospel meeting he did somewhere else, so it's not on the West Huntsville site. Thanks to another friend for sharing this one!

I am thankful for Christian friends!

Talking!

Since Wednesday, Hannah Kate has said these new words:  play, shoes, head, see, cheerios, tree, bird, bug, bow, easy, & pretty.  Tonight, Wesley said, "I think she's figured out this communication thing." :) So fun!! We are blessed and thankful!

Hannah Kate......the Dog

I think Hannah Kate might be part dog.  It must be that because she's not around dogs enough to be developing these abilities otherwise......she regularly stands at the window and barks, she barks at other animals (groundhogs, birds, cows, other dogs etc.), today she started making puppy yelping noises and when we saw Aprilia (Kristy's dog)-Aprilia was panting, so Hannah Kate started panting too.  Someone tell Wesley to get the girl a dog!  Maybe one day she will have one!

This week during Early Intervention, Hannah Kate was standing at her window barking when Mrs. Diana and I noticed a groundhog running across the yard.  We ended up watching him for 20 minutes as he darted back and forth, stood up on his hind legs, etc.  Hannah Kate kept barking at him and when she would, he would stop and look around.  I'm seriously thinking she's been barking at that groundhog for days and I just didn't know it.  She would bark at the window and I would say, "There's not a dog out there, Hannah Kate!"  Fun times!

Ha ha....I totally just realized that I said she barks at "other" dogs.  :)

Spring Fling

We had a great time at East Side's Spring Fling on Saturday, April 14th. Hannah Kate got to participate in her first Easter Egg Hunt!  She found 11 eggs all by herself (yeah right) and shared her candy with Mommy and Daddy!

She also enjoyed checking out Leah's chicks and ducks (who were later tragically killed by a raccoon).

She ate a yummy lunch and even tried Jell-o for the first time.

Us with Julianne and Katy

This one cracks me up.

She also slid down the slide A LOT. She loved it. 

"Toes"

Hannah Kate is too smart for her own good. Tonight, she crawled over (you know, since she refuses to walk now) to Wesley Skelton, pulled up, pointed to his toes, looked at me and said, "Toes." She has never said this word before. It was like she knew it all along and thought tonight was the time to let it out. Then, I asked where her toes were, so she sat down and shoved them in her mouth. Nice. I told Wesley, I just want to know what's going through her head! She KNOWS so much stuff, but she just decides when she feels like letting us see!

Development

Today, we had Hannah Kate's early intervention yearly meeting......Her real age at the time of evaluation was 14 months, her adjusted age (what she would have been if born on her due date) was 11 months.....she had no delays at all for her adjusted age. She scored (if that's the right word) at 15 months for communication, 17 months for adaptive (self-care), 15 months social emotional, 14 months cognitive, and 12 months in gross and fine motor. I'd say that's pretty good! God has truly blessed us!

Walking

Here are some videos of Hannah Kate learning to walk-from last night.

Photo Books...HELP!!!

I need a good system for organizing how I do photo books for Hannah Kate. So far, I have:
~made the birth book, but it's not printed yet because I'm waiting for a good deal
~printed 2 copies (1 for me and 1 for Hannah Kate) of a large, beautiful book of Hannah Kate's NICU stay from MyPublisher (the birth book is also made with them, but unless I found an awesome Groupon or something, I wouldn't use them again because of their shipping fees even though I really like the books)
~printed 3 8x8 paperback books of iPhone pictures from April 2011-March 2012 (3 volumes, not 3 copies-it was a buy 1, get 2 free deal from Snapfish-who I am not super crazy about and it really wasn't that great of a deal once I ordered them, but the books look fine-they're phone pictures, so it doesn't matter as much)
~printed a free 8x8 hardcover book from Shutterfly-"Who Loves Hannah Kate" with pictures of people who love her (with their names)
~have a TON of other pictures that are sitting on my computer!!

I need a good system! Do I do one a year (and how on EARTH am I going to fit a whole year into one book?), two a year, what do I do? What do you do? Suggestions appreciated! Remember that I'm a picture-aholic.
I have credit with Picaboo and there's a BOGO deal going on now, so I need to figure out a plan and do it!


Shutterfly is doing a free photo book deal right now. I don't normally like Shutterfly, but I ordered the "Who Loves Hannah Kate" book for free and it was pretty good. In the blog post, click on "free 8x8 photo book."

Walking

We have been working with Hannah Kate trying to get her to walk. Every night we stand her up and try to get her to walk to one of us. She usually stands, maybe takes one step, and falls into whoever she is facing. She thinks this is hilarious. Last week (I think), she took three steps! She was so determined then that she kept crawling back to us to get her standing so she could try again. Tonight, she took 8(!!) steps by herself! It was after we had been doing the back and forth thing for about 20 minutes (because she wouldn't let us stop!). I told her we were all done and she started crying. I stood her up at her music table and she took off! We were so excited and she was clapping. It was so fun! From then on, she kept wanting to do it again. If we didn't stand her up right away, she would start pitching a (huge) fit (don't worry, she was disciplined!). We made her say "more" if she wanted to walk more. She would say/sign "more" and try again. She is the most stubborn and determined kid I have ever seen. This has the potential to be very good for her and very difficult for us! I think I had better start praying about that now!

One Year

One year ago today we buried our precious girls. We are so thankful for our Christian family who stood by us, supported us, and loved us (and still do!)! We are blessed and thankful for God's care for us and His perfect plan for our lives. We would never have chosen this road, but it has led us to be able to encourage and pray for others who are in similar circumstances.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Random April Fun

Hannah Kate loves Maggie! We go to Nana's to eat every Wednesday before Bible study for supper. On this night, Maggie grabbed some books and told Hannah Kate, "I'll just go wherever you go so you can hear the story," and followed her around! Too sweet!
Hannah Kate also loves Baby Mollie......and Maggie tries to keep Hannah Kate out of trouble and Mollie safe!
Here's a fun outtake from our pretty buttercup pictures. :)

Easter Weekend

Playing with Granna!
We enjoyed our visit with Ma Coley on Easter weekend. Hosanna the orphan lamb & Charlie also came to visit Ma Coley! She had her hands full!

Beautiful

Thanks to our friend Katy for letting us come take pictures of Hannah Kate in the pretty buttercups! (even if they are weeds according to Wesley)
Thanks to Brittany & Leah for helping corral Hannah Kate! I tried taking a few pictures of her by myself, but she kept crawling away!

I think the one below is my very favorite.
Thanks to Brittany for taking pictures of Hannah Kate & her mommy! If not for Brittany, Hannah Kate would think her mommy never existed when she was little.


These are just a FEW of my favorites. There are more on my Facebook photography page.

Easter 2012

For Easter, we went to visit my family. After Hannah Kate's morning nap on Saturday, we went to Bill & Connie's so Hannah Kate could have her picture taken with a baby lamb. If Hannah Kate could see his face, she didn't want anything to do with him. Otherwise, she liked him.




Hannah Kate with "Harvey" the Easter Bunny.
The lamb is an orphan bottle lamb-he might think he's a dog. :)
After that, we went to visit Ma Coley for awhile (I'll post those pictures later).
After services on Sunday, we went to Auntie Carol's for dinner.
We were the first ones there, so we took some quick pictures.

Hannah Kate & Sarah with their Cabbage Patch dolls that Ma Coley gave them.

April Fun

April 1st-Bath in the Big Tub
She kept trying to take the drain out.

She also kept trying to drink the bath water! Gross! She learned how to drink out of a "cup" during this bath time.
So, after her bath, she got to drink out of Daddy's cup. Now, anytime we are drinking something she wants to try.Hannah Kate did this trick for a good week or two. She would do this & laugh so hard that she would fall over.
A lady at our congregation crocheted these dresses for Mollie & Hannah Kate. It is HARD to get a picture of all three girls! Fun times. Maggie is such a good helper though.
Sweet girl.